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Potato Yeast

A fermented yeast starter made from mashed potatoes, water, sugar, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Potato Yeast

Why it works: Potato and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Potato Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the starter

  1. Cook and mash the potatoes.

  2. Pour the boiling water over the mashed potatoes and stir well.

  3. Add the sugar and let it stand for a few minutes.

  4. Pour in the cold water and stir until lukewarm.

  5. Stir in the yeast and set it in a warm place to rise.

Store

  1. Once well fermented, transfer to a stone jug, cork tightly, and store in a cool place.

  2. Reserve some yeast for the next batch.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Potato + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Their starch provides body and food for the yeast to ferment.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast, driving fermentation and gas production.
Yeast
Ferments the mixture, producing gas that makes it rise and become active.

The step that matters

Pour in the cold water and stir until lukewarm. The mixture must be lukewarm before yeast is added. If it is still hot, the heat can kill the yeast, so the starter will not ferment properly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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